In April, AGBU Lebanon announced its participation in the United Nations Global Compact Platform (UNGC), an international platform for development, implementation and disclosure of responsible and sustainable policies and practices. It calls for the participation of both businesses and NGOs to work toward a vision of creating “an engaged community that advances sustainability practices nation-wide.”
AGBU Lebanon is the first Armenian non-profit organization in Lebanon to take part in the UN Global Compact platform and supports the ten principles of the compact with respect to human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. “Our leadership believes that the key to reaching out to the Lebanese community at large lies in partnerships. This partnership follows in the footsteps of earlier partnership with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Foundation of Human and Humanitarian Rights, Lebanon. With this commitment, we express our intent to support the Global Compact by advancing these principles and will make a clear statement of this commitment to our stakeholders and the public,” says Anita Lebiar, the executive director of AGBU Lebanon.
AGBU Lebanon believes it is possible and crucial to create and ensure sustainability, a belief that coincides with the vision of the Global Compact Network in Lebanon. “Our participation will reflect our values: envisioning the Lebanon we want; setting ambitious and achievable community targets; institutionalizing and mobilizing to make these targets happen; and implementing and monitoring them. We look forward to partnering with other UN agencies and being part of other platforms, the vision of which align with our scope of work. UNGC is just the start,” says AGBU Lebanon District president Gerard Tufenkjian. Through this partnership, AGBU Lebanon is also demonstrating a commitment to act responsibly; contribute to the development of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as quality education, gender equality and partnerships; and collaborate with national and regional stakeholders on various projects.
Officially launched at the UN headquarters in New York in 2015, UNGC is the largest sustainability platform with 9,000 business, 4,000 non-business and 85 local networks in more than 160 countries worldwide. It calls for institutions to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor standards environment and anti corruption.